The Guzzlers - On Our Radar Q&A: "When you’re playing Irish music at a funeral, it actually makes things a lot better for people"

What made you want to start making music?

Tom: I was into music first in the family and I started a rock band. I needed a bass player and I couldn’t find one, so I just forced my younger brother Tom into the band to play bass!

Who are your musical influences?

Cian: Joy Division and New Order, the Manchester scene. The Smiths and Oasis would have been huge for me when I was growing up. The Dubliners and The Pogues too – Thin Lizzy and The Pogues would be my favourites.

Tom: Pecker Dunne is my biggest influence. He was an Irish traveller musician. I think his lyrics, his voice, his songwriting and the way he lived his life was so inspiring. If we could do anything like him, capture anything of what he could do, I’d be a happy man.

What can we expect from your debut album?

Cian: Lots of songs about drinking pints! The album has an element of humour, but there’s another side to it which is really deep. We were asked to play a funeral recently for a young girl who passed away.

Her sister reached out and said they were fans of the band, and they asked us to play her funeral. It was honestly the nicest thing ever. When you’re playing Irish music at a funeral, it actually makes things a lot better for people and it’s a healing kind of thing.

Since relocating to Liverpool from Limerick, you were invited to perform for arriving fans at Anfield. What was that like?  

Tom: Brilliant. We’re back up there after this interview for the Tottenham game. It’s great, I love it. You’re out on the big stage, you see all the fans and stuff, and you’re playing in front of hundreds of people. We get to play our own few songs as well – we have a song about Liverpool that Cian wrote.

• Drinking The Dream is out now.